Vertical equity: weighting outcomes? or establishing procedures?

Considerations of equity in the health policy literature have in the main focussed on horizontal equity (the equal treatment of equals) and as a consequence have tended to overlook vertical equity (the unequal, but equitable, treatment of unequals). There is evidence from earlier, if preliminary, work carried out by the authors and a colleague that health care decision makers may well want to embrace concerns for vertical equity in the allocation of health service resources. This paper examines some possibilities for incorporating vertical equity into health care policy through distributive and/or procedural justice. While no firm solutions are offered, it is suggested that the idea of fitting John Broome's notion of 'claims' within a communitarian framework holds promise.